2016 REQUIRED SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENTS BY DEPARTMENT
ENGLISH
English 9: John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
English 10: Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring
English 11: Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore
English 12: Listen to the first five podcasts of Serial, Season 1 (https://serialpodcast.org/seasonone)
AP English 11: Robin Sloan, Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore & Mark Twain, The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
IB English 11: Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
AP English 12: Ian McEwan, Atonement & Thomas Foster, How to Read Literature Like a
Professor
IB English 12: Thomas Foster, How to Read Literature Like a Professor and choose one of the
following three books: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World; George Orwell, 1984; Margaret
Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale. Students may also read, but are not required to read, Emily St.
John Mandel’s, Station Eleven
HISTORY
WHI: The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics edition only -- 978-0-140-44100-0)
While reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, consider the following themes:
- Journey from wild to tame
- Journey of life vs. death
- Journey of family/brotherhood
- Entertainment
- Explanation of gods
- Concept of love
As you work through the book, practice “close reading,” which will help you to prepare for the summer
reading assessment around the themes above. “Close reading” entails careful and purposeful reading (and
re-reading if necessary) of the text. We encourage you to take notes or annotate the reading, focusing on
the themes.
WHII: Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Hon. WHII: Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre
US History & AP US History: Michael Shaara, Killer Angels
AP and IB Psychology: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat
IB World History: Sally Belfrage, Freedom Summer
IB History of the Americas: Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds
AP European History: Byron Hollinshead & Theodore Rabb, eds. I Wish I’d Been There, Book
Two.
-Students need to read the introduction and chapters 6-the end (pp. 79-312, by Babara
Hanawalt)
*AP Human Geography: Please see the following several pages
SCIENCE
AP Environmental Science: Michael Braungart, Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the Way We
Make Things
IB Biology HL: Scientific American Article (full instructions and article will be provided by
Mr. Peery)
AP Human Geography Summer Reading Assignment
Choose ONE of the titles listed below (or more if you are intrigued). Read it carefully,
annotating as you go, thinking of key themes and geographic terms. You will have an
assignment based on the book you read in the first week we meet.
1. Kristof, Nicholas and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky. Turning Oppression Into
Opportunity for Women. ISBN-13: 978-0307387097
2. De Blij, Harm. Why Geography Matters: More Than Ever. ISBN-13: 978-0199913749
3. Timmerman, Kelsey. Where I am Wearing: A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories,
and People That Make Our Clothes. ISBN-13: 978-1118277553
4. Jennings, Ken. Maphead: Charting the Wide, Charting the Weird, Wide World of
Geography Wonks. ISBN-13: 978-1439167182
5. De Blij, Harm. The Power of Place. Geography Destiny, and Globalization’s Rough
Landscape. ISBN-13: 978-0199754328
6. Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of All American Meal. ISBN-13:
978-0547750330
7. Kunstler, James Howard. Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's
Man-Made Landscape. ISBN-13: 978-0671888251
8. Herzog, Brad. States of Mind. ISBN-13: 978-0743417822
9. Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. ISBN-13: 9780393317558. If you choose this book, pick any six chapters to analyze, at least one
chapter from each of the four parts of the book.
You should also start studying the maps of the world using your Merriam-Webster’s Student
Atlas (ISBN-13: 978-0877796381), as we will start the year with basic geographic knowledge
and will have a number of map quizzes throughout the year. Keep up the current events; the
experience in this course will be far richer if you can connect what we study to real world.
Also, at the very least you should know the following + MAIN PHYSICAL FEATURES (top 5
waterbodies, mountains, deserts) for each region below.